2014 MLB Season Thread

[dbadefense1990]

So the Tigers have clinched the AL Central. Meanwhile, the Pirates are about to lose (STL would clinch the NL Central), while Oakland leads in Arlington right now (which would eliminate the Mariners in the ALWC #2 race).

What a dud of a day this is turning out to be. 0-3 in Game 163 opportunities.

[DarkJourney]

So the Tigers have clinched the AL Central. Meanwhile, the Pirates are about to lose (STL would clinch the NL Central), while Oakland leads in Arlington right now (which would eliminate the Mariners in the ALWC #2 race).

What a dud of a day this is turning out to be. 0-3 in Game 163 opportunities.

I definitely was rooting for 3 game 163's. If the A's do hold on they still have gone 16-30 in their last 46 games. Yeesh!

[Sport]

The Pirates made a gamble that I don't think I would've gone with if I was Clint Hurdle. He started Cole today hoping to get a win over the Reds and hoping the Diamondbacks can beat Wainwright.

Now he has to throw Edinson Volquez in the wild card game.

[CS85]

Team Faceless White Men & Yadier Molina clinch the central. Between that and the Packers win, all I need to do now is set my penis on fire and it'll be a great day.

[TheGiantsFan]

Jordan Zimmerman just threw a no-hitter in a 1-0 Nationals victory against the Marlins.

[kewp80]

Jordan Zimmerman just threw a no-hitter in a 1-0 Nationals victory against the Marlins.

Great way to end it too! Souza coming in as a defensive sub and getting the diving catch for the last out. What a way to end the season.

[lordsketor]

So the Tigers have clinched the AL Central. Meanwhile, the Pirates are about to lose (STL would clinch the NL Central), while Oakland leads in Arlington right now (which would eliminate the Mariners in the ALWC #2 race).

What a dud of a day this is turning out to be. 0-3 in Game 163 opportunities.

I definitely was rooting for 3 game 163's. If the A's do hold on they still have gone 16-30 in their last 46 games. Yeesh!

And the A's clinch that final AL Wild Card berth and will play the Royals on Tuesday night in Kansas City. So no Game 163 this year.

[Mac the Knife]

The Pirates made a gamble that I don't think I would've gone with if I was Clint Hurdle. He started Cole today hoping to get a win over the Reds and hoping the Diamondbacks can beat Wainwright.

Now he has to throw Edinson Volquez in the wild card game.

You have to understand, Pirate fans went so long without even a winning season, that now any time the Pirates reach their 82nd win? Anything and everything beyond that is playing with "house money." Whacked in the Wild Card Game? Okay... we're still in "happy to be here" mode for one more year.

[cmm]

The Astros front office didn't want Jose Altuve to play today (he was leading the AL batting race and they didn't want him to risk that) so he wasn't in the starting lineup. Altuve wanted to play and talked his way into the lineup around 30 minutes before first pitch. He had two hits. Good for him, and shame on the clowns running the Astros. Again, just a few months after their draft debacle.

[DaRadniz29]

Working on my MLB Postseason wallpaper, but got sidetracked reading about the Angels and their Stadium woes. So, where would a stadium go in Tustin? One location I'm hearing is El Toro. Pretty sure the ground in El Toro is a bit toxic, then again, why would that matter...

The former Marine Corps Air Station next to The District is another location being tossed around. Trying to navigate the District shopping Center is awful, I can't imagine a stadium being there.

[STL_ArchMadness]

Just stopping in to ask a question. But why does everyone hate the Cardinals and their fans so much?

I mean I know i came in a few pages back and made a silly remark about them clinching but that was just a joke because I know everyone hates us, but i'm just wondering why?

[waltere]

The Cardinals are a team consisting of, as CS85 so perfectly put it, faceless white guys plus Yadier Molina, who year in year out for something like a decade always seem to be just good enough to scrape into the playoffs and then usually upset at least one 'better' team, all without ever being actually legitimately great or even interesting.

On top of that a high amount of Cardinals' fans seem to be sanctimonious blowhards who never tire of the old 'Best Fans' In Baseball!!!' line whilst going on about how all is well because they play the game 'The Right Way'; also somehow still attempting to maintain this perception of themselves as a small market team done good despite consistently having a top ten payroll in the majors.

Everything about that organisation by now is just so boring and overplayed.

[BigEd76]

Also, Scott Rolen declaring that he joined "baseball heaven" when he left the Phillies. Shut up.

Here's the 2015 draft order if anyone's into that thing:

1 Diamondbacks

2 Astros

3 Rockies

4 Rangers

5 Astros

6 Twins

7 Red Sox

8 White Sox

9 Cubs

10 Phillies

11 Reds

-------------------------PROTECTED ^^^

12 Marlins

13 Padres

14 Rays

15 Mets

16 Braves

17 Brewers

18 Blue Jays

19 Yankees

20 Indians

21 Mariners

22 Giants

23 Pirates

24 Athletics

25 Royals

26 Tigers

27 Cardinals

28 Dodgers

29 Orioles

30 Nationals

31 Angels

[STL_ArchMadness]

Not defending the 10s of thousands of lame white people who claim to be "the best fans in baseball" every fall, but it's different living here.

I know these fans are incredibly annoying, and I can understand not liking them because they do seem to ruin better team's seasons a lot.

Obviously my perception is biased and I am part of the tryhards in "baseball heaven", but I don't mind lol.

Would it be a fair comparison to the New England Patriots?

Just every year they are led by the same guy, and although some years they are really good, most years they are just better than their division opponents. I also may be biased here because they (cheated) and beat my Rams in the Super Bowl, but they just came to mind

[Still MIGHTY]

Working on my MLB Postseason wallpaper, but got sidetracked reading about the Angels and their Stadium woes. So, where would a stadium go in Tustin? One location I'm hearing is El Toro. Pretty sure the ground in El Toro is a bit toxic, then again, why would that matter...

The former Marine Corps Air Station next to The District is another location being tossed around. Trying to navigate the District shopping Center is awful, I can't imagine a stadium being there.

From what I gather, the District site is more likely. And yeah, right now navigating there is pretty bad, but there's also enough space to make it more navigable. You've got the 5 right there, the 261 toll road extension spills out there. If I had to throw a stadium somewhere in Tustin, it'd be there.

Plus the El Toro land is more going towards the ever elusive Great Park. (and supposedly, a rebuilt Wild Rivers is going in there too.

[Angels]

The Cardinals are a team consisting of, as CS85 so perfectly put it, faceless white guys plus Yadier Molina, who year in year out for something like a decade always seem to be just good enough to scrape into the playoffs and then usually upset at least one 'better' team, all without ever being actually legitimately great or even interesting.

On top of that a high amount of Cardinals' fans seem to be sanctimonious blowhards who never tire of the old 'Best Fans' In Baseball!!!' line whilst going on about how all is well because they play the game 'The Right Way'; also somehow still attempting to maintain this perception of themselves as a small market team done good despite consistently having a top ten payroll in the majors.

Everything about that organisation by now is just so boring and overplayed.

Just a few seasons ago Cardinals had Freese and Pujols, some pretty exciting players.

Even without superstars, the Cardinals are good, hence the hate and jealousy.

[kewp80]

The Cardinals are a team consisting of, as CS85 so perfectly put it, faceless white guys plus Yadier Molina, who year in year out for something like a decade always seem to be just good enough to scrape into the playoffs and then usually upset at least one 'better' team, all without ever being actually legitimately great or even interesting.

On top of that a high amount of Cardinals' fans seem to be sanctimonious blowhards who never tire of the old 'Best Fans' In Baseball!!!' line whilst going on about how all is well because they play the game 'The Right Way'; also somehow still attempting to maintain this perception of themselves as a small market team done good despite consistently having a top ten payroll in the majors.

Everything about that organisation by now is just so boring and overplayed.

I feel a lot of the reason why the Cardinals players (Other than say Wainwright, Holliday, and of course Molina) are "faceless" is because they don't play in New York, Boston, LA or any other cities/teams that ESPN and other sports media outlets are always seeming to pay more attention to. Seriously, if Molina plays the rest of his career in St. Louis (more than likely at this point), do you think he'll have as much coverage over his "farewell tour" as Jeter has?

It just seems that most, if not all, media sports outlets cover and drool over teams on major media hubs on the coasts than midwest teams. Chicago being an exception there. We basically are a small market team, who were for a good while the western most team, and built up a large fanbase throughout the midwest and beyond. Look and see how many Cards fans go to games in Arizona and San Diego, and look how far their radio network still reaches. That has allowed the team to maintain a large fanbase outside of their "market". Plus a lot of people actually travel and take vacations specifically around Cardinal games.

I certainly try not to be one of those arrogant Cardinal fans. I know their out there, and I kinda get tired of the whole "Cardinal Nation" and "Baseball Heaven" thing. (Personally, "Baseball Heaven" will first and foremost always be Wrigley Field). I tend to try and be a realist, but as far as playing "The Right Cardinal Way" thing... I dunno, maybe they have some truth to that. Especially if we keep filling our teams with "faceless white guys" and keep winning "without ever actually being great". Ok, starting to be one of those arrogant Cards fans now As long as this team makes the playoffs you can never know, same with every team.

[Angels]

Talk about faceless: the 2013 Red Sox were a team of beared bums, could not tell them apart LOL

.

Anyway, Cards have Holliday, Molina, Wainwright, just as many stars as many other teams.

Cards 14th in payroll, Philly are 3rd, with more faceless white and black guys

[Angels]

Holy crap the red sox commentator on nesn is boring, even at this final game of the season and with jeter there , he is still as dull and lifeless as a zombie......how can they use that guy, most boring, monotone, lifeless voice in the world !

[The_Admiral]

I feel a lot of the reason why the Cardinals players (Other than say Wainwright, Holliday, and of course Molina) are "faceless" is because they don't play in New York, Boston, LA or any other cities/teams that ESPN and other sports media outlets are always seeming to pay more attention to.

The Cardinals from 2004-5-6 were anything but faceless. Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, Larry Walker, Mark Mulder, Edgar Renteria, Reggie Sanders, that's a good bunch of names right there, and their being in St. Louis did nothing to preclude recognition of them as such. Relative to those powerhouse teams that won three divisions, two pennants, and a championship, this current bunch of guys does pale in terms of name recognition. Granted, there's always been the element of the Cardinals pulling bums off the trash heap and turning them into serviceable players (I'll never forget them doing so with freaking Todd Wellemeyer), but the "fairy dust," mostly on the pitching side, was always complemented by legitimate superstars you couldn't take anything away from. It's much easier for Todd Wellemeyer to give you six adequate innings when Pujols is homering.

I've given all the credit in the world to the Cardinals organization for building a comprehensive top-to-bottom system that allows them to plug and play seamlessly in the great tradition of the Weaver Orioles and the '90s Braves. That's what running a baseball team is all about, and if people don't know the names of these guys, that's on them, myself included. And with their odious beanball-loving ex-manager off in Arizona with the rest of America's cranky old men who want to hurt everyone who offends them, you can't take anything away from the Cardinals' in-game strategy.

In short, it's all about the BFIBs.